Islam Alloush: Syrian rebel on student visa is arrested for war crimes

Monday February 03 2020, 12.01am GMT, The Times


Islam Alloush has been charged with torture, war crimes and complicity in forced disappearances

A senior figure in Syria’s opposition has been arrested in Marseilles and charged with war crimes.

Islam Alloush, who is in his thirties, was the spokesman for the Army of Islam, a rebel group that controlled the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta for seven years. He is thought to have travelled to France on an Erasmus student visa.

The International Federation for Human Rights, an advocacy organisation that has been working with 20 of the group’s alleged victims and their families, filed a complaint against Mr Alloush with the French authorities in June last year, accusing him of complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearances. The organisation accused the group of carrying out a “reign of terror”.

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Islam Alloush: Syrian rebel on student visa is arrested for war crimes | World | The Times